I believe that in a band's career, their third release tends to be the most important. With a debut the artist, normally, comes out with their most "youthful" and "free" because the they're are complimentary to do what they want without having previous material to follow up to. This being the case with Russian Circle's critically acclaimed debut Enter where they proved that they could stand their own in the crowded post metal genre. Then the have the dreaded sophmore record, in Russian Circle's case the atmospheric Stations, and though I quite enjoyed it, the record seemed to disappoint fans, labeling it as 'boring'. Now a band usually does one of two things, one being that they continue to trail down the decline or instead of moving on they go back to the sound that made them popular. Instead though, the group push their artistic boundaries and evolve while combining the best traits from both of their releases and make an epic masterpiece. Who woulda thunk it?
WOW!! I wasn't expecting this to be this good. Geneva combines the post-metal abrasiveness of Enter with the calm post-rock atmospherics of Station seamlessly. The first half hits you in the face with pounding heaviness, while the second half grounds you with long progressive compositions. Easily Russian Circles strongest release to date. Pelican will have a lot to compete with this year.
A finally they've climbed out of the drag they called "Station". Station was quite boring, with only a few really good songs. With "Geneva" the guys are back on track, and it is quite good. Sure there are still parts on the album that have been done tons of times before. But overall they've managed to create a solid album with some really nice soundscapes.
Yay for post-rawk!!!!!!!!!!!!
The first half of this cd is Russian Circles bringing the most emotion out of their insturments they ever have so far.
While the second half is standard RS goodness.
once more yay!!!!
Russian Circles have proven they can evolve with each album while still keeping their signature schizophrenic layered guitars and creative drum fills. I hope these guys keep making tunes, there is a lot of cohesion within the band. Who knows how good they'll be in another two albums time.
Never liked this band..... That was until this release. The music contained on this disc makes me dream of floating through catacombs and ancient druid temples. Serious. Trance inducing. Stuff.
